The UST Golden Tigresses are left to pick up the pieces after falling short of a comeback against defending champion NU to open UAAP Season 88 women's volleyball.
The UST Golden Tigresses have been forced back into square one after falling short of their comeback try against the three-peat seeking NU Lady Bulldogs in their four-set battle to draw the curtain on opening weekend of UAAP Season 88 at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday.
UST, who looked doomed after going down a 0-2 hole vs a Sam Cantada-led Lady Bulldogs, recovered momentum in a thrilling third set win to extend the match to a fourth stanza.
But it wasn’t enough as Cantada sparked a key 5-0 run late in the fourth that led NU to match point, 24-23, flipping the script on the Golden Tigresses who earlier held a four-point lead, 23-19, in the hopes of forcing a decider.
[RELATED: Defending champ NU douses UST's fiery fightback for first win in UAAP volleyball]
After the match, UST veteran Angge Poyos expressed some form of regret over the botched effort.
“Personally, sayang. Sayang ‘yung game kasi andun na kami sana, ‘yun nga kinapos. Siguro ‘yun nga ‘yung sinasabi nila coach [Shaq Delos Santos}, ‘yung maturity and decision making sa court lalo kapag crucial point, crucial match,” said Poyos.
It was an errant hit from Poyos that eventually ended the match in an extended fourth set, 26-24, completing a 7-1 finishing kick for the Lady Bulldogs to take down their fellow title contenders.
But for UST, there's no use crying over spilled milk as they still have 13 games remaining in the elimination round.
Coming off of a less-than-satisfactory opener, Poyos is looking forward to returning to work and hopefully barge into the win column in their next outing.
“Nangyari na ‘yun, need lang namin gawin bumalik ulit sa training and pag-aralan ulit and improve kung ano kailangan i-improve,” she said.
UST will be facing another tough test in the DLSU Lady Spikers on February 22, Sunday.
Skipper and ace libero Detdet Pepito will hope to recover well after suffering a bout of cramps against the Lady Bulldogs.
“Nag-cramps lang po kasi nga sobrang init po talaga, wala pong hangin sa court,” she explained after needing to exit the game in the third set.
“Hindi lang po ako ‘di ba, parang si [Shaira] Jardio rin nag-cramps kasi nga wala pong hangin.”
The DLSU Lady Spikers are coming off of a resounding victory over last year’s semifinalist FEU Lady Tamaraws in their own opening game this weekend.
UST faces off with La Salle in the main game on February 22 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.